Who's Counting?
Author Unknown



The government recently calculated the cost of raising
a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for
a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock!
That doesn't even touch college tuition.


For those with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies
about all the money that they could have banked if
they had chosen to remain childless.


For others, that number might confirm the decision to
remain childless. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it
down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08
a week. That's a mere $24.44 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice says
don't have children if you want to be "rich."


It is just the opposite.


What do you get for your $160,140?


1. Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

2. Glimpses of God every day.

3. Giggles under the covers every night.

4. More love than your heart can hold.

5. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds,
and warm cookies.

6. A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.

7. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building
sandcastles, and skipping down the sidewalk in
the pouring rain.

8. Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what
the boss said or how your stocks performed that
day.


For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to finger-paint,
carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and
never stop believing in Santa Claus. You have an excuse
to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday
morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars. You get
to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets
and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with
backward letters for Father's Day.


For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the
garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a
splinter, filling the wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs,
and coaching a baseball team that never wins, but always gets treated to ice
cream regardless. You get a front row seat to history,
you get to witness the first step, first word, first bra,
first date, and first time behind the wheel. You get to be immortal, you get
another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs
in your obituary called grandchildren. You get an education in
psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and
human sexuality that no college can match.


In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God.
You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away
the monsters under the bed, and patch a broken heart.


If you are lucky, like you, one day they will not look
at the cost and you will be blessed with more children
to love without limits.









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Page created May 27/02 by Retreat for the Soul